About Us

Engaging Stakeholders

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"When we look at what has worked best for us over the past 125 years, it has not been about a single big-bang product innovation, a new marketing breakthrough or a bullet-proof business model. The secret to our secret formula has always been the power of the relationships and partnerships our people have forged all around the world." -- Muhtar Kent

We at The Coca-Cola Company believe that dialogue with a wide-range of external stakeholders is critical to respecting human and workplace rights within our system. Continuous dialogue enables us to identify and address potential issues proactively and collaboratively. By combining our experience with the expertise, passion and knowledge of our stakeholders and partners we develop robust approaches to respect human and workplace rights. Furthermore, by working with other relevant parties from various sectors including private, public and non-profit and labour, we believe we can have a greater and more sustainable impact than by working alone. Here are a few examples of our ongoing engagement.

International Union of Foodworkers (IUF)

Since 2005 we have met twice annually with the International Union of Foodworkers and several of its affiliates. The IUF is a world-wide federation of trade unions representing workers in sectors including agriculture and plantations, food and drinks, and hotels among others. More than 30 percent of our business system’s employees are members of unions affiliated with the IUF. The semi-annual meetings, in addition to ongoing communications, provide a forum to discuss a variety of labour relations matters. Read our updated joint statement (PDF).

These conferences have engaged business in addressing forced labour, child labour, and other business and human rights issues. In 2010 and 2011, Professor John Ruggie, the former UN Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, was the keynote speaker and focused on his “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework for respecting human rights in a business context and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

The 2015 conference, which convened more than 150 leaders from businesses, government and non-governmental organisations, focused on strategies to demonstrate respect for human rights in business. Conference panels focused on key issues including

Supply Chain Impacts: forced labour and land rights

Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining: linkage to human rights

Human Rights Due Diligence: how to do it, the importance of transparency and understanding stakeholder expectations

Human Rights Remedy: a discussion of business’ accountability for remedy and what effective remedies look like

Agendas from the conferences hosted by TCCC to engage business on Human Rights issues:

Brand Collaboration: AIM Progress

The Coca-Cola Company is a leading member of AIM-PROGRESS, a forum of 39 fast-moving consumer goods manufacturers and suppliers working together to promote responsible sourcing practices. Through AIM-PROGRESS's joint training initiative, the group conducts in-person and virtual supplier training sessions around the world. Trainings cover the four major pillars of responsible sourcing: human rights and labour standards, health and safety, environmental compliance and business integrity. Leaders from participating companies provide perspective on why responsible sourcing is important to customers, stakeholders and sustainable businesses. Over the last few years the sessions have reached approximately 2,500 suppliers and 5,000 people.

Member companies recognise supplier audits completed on behalf of another company through a framework called Mutual Recognition. Recognising audits conducted on behalf of another company reduces audit fatigue, reduces time and costs on the part of suppliers and shifts the focus from auditing to performance. Our work with AIM-PROGRESS has advanced our mutual audit recognition to 16 percent of the suppliers we audit.